


Loosen your hold

by killerweasel



Category: Angel: the Series
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-06
Updated: 2012-12-06
Packaged: 2017-11-20 13:11:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/585700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/killerweasel/pseuds/killerweasel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Be prepared for anything.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loosen your hold

This is for [](http://100moods.livejournal.com/profile)[**100moods**](http://100moods.livejournal.com/)

Title: Loosen your hold  
Fandom: Angel  
Characters: Lindsey McDonald, Marcus Hamilton  
Prompt: 019. Cranky  
Word Count: 1,885  
Rating: R  
Warnings/Spoilers: AU after _Underneath_  
Summary: Be prepared for anything.

**Loosen your hold**

He’d waited until Angel was out of the building for a few days to meet with a client before coming down to my cell. I understood the reasoning for it, the hero turned CEO was supposed to keep me safe from people like Marcus. Angel’s friends didn’t give a damn about me, so they wouldn’t interfere in anything that happened. The guards would stay out of it too; they weren’t crazy enough to try to stop one of the firm’s liaisons since that would be suicide. The death rate around Wolfram and Hart was high enough without adding stupidity into the mix.

I watched Marcus cross the floor of my cell and wondered if it was possible to take his ass down. He’d be stronger than a vampire, not to mention he could snap my neck like a damn twig if he felt like it. My hand reached behind me to close on the piece of the bed that I’d snapped loose the night before. It would work well as a club and the edge was razor sharp. I would only get one chance before he hit me back and I doubted I’d live through whatever he did.

“Mr. McDonald, we need to talk.” He gave me a smile that sent a chill down my spine. It was full predator, all teeth with promises of pain and death.

“No, we don’t.” Training with those monks had given me much better reflexes. I wasn’t as powerful as I used to be now that the ink had been removed, but I wasn’t the same guy who had walked out on the firm either. Lunging forward, I brought the metal bar around and cracked him across the side of his head as hard as I could. The noise it made caused my stomach to lurch. Blood splattered all over my face and clothing and he fell backwards, crashing to the ground with a thud that seemed to shake the room.

He wasn’t moving as I inched closer to him. You can’t kill something that isn’t mortal, but you can slow it down or make it hurt for a very long time. A pool of crimson was slowly spreading across the cement. I crouched down next to Marcus and poked his shoulder with the end of the bar. No response. Either he was pretending to be knocked out or I’d cracked his skull. I went to poke him again and that’s when he woke up. I didn’t even have time to swear as one of his hands wrapped around my throat.

I squirmed, trying to get oxygen into my lungs. The wound on the side of his face was horrible to look at. A human would be either dead or unconscious by now. Then a thought popped into my head. I pressed the sharp point of the bar just below his eye until blood started to trickle out. Might be able to heal, but he’d never grow an eye back.

Marcus froze before slowly relaxing his grip. I fell backwards and scooted away from him, gasping for air. “You shouldn’t have done that, McDonald. Do you have any idea what I’m going to do to you?”

“First you’ll make me pay for that and then maybe, if I’m lucky, you’ll kill me by the time you’re finished. Am I leaving anything out?” I got up slowly, keeping my back against the wall.

The smile that spread across his face was terrifying. It also made the gash on the side of his head split even wider. I shuddered. “Bingo.” One minute he was on the floor and the next he’d closed the distance between us, slamming his fist into my ribs. “Angel’s keeping you safe from the Partners; the deal doesn’t include anyone else.”

Another punch and the world started to look fuzzy around the edges. The bar fell from numb fingers as I started to sink towards the ground. He grabbed me by the front of my shirt, dragging me up until our faces were even. “What did you tell him about them, McDonald? Answer the question and I’ll make this fast.”

I’d been in this position before, with someone holding me off of the ground. There was only one way that I knew of to get loose. I licked my lips, gave Marcus a smile and then I headbutted the bridge of his nose while bringing my knee up into his groin. The tiny noise that came from his throat gave me an immense amount of satisfaction. Marcus tipped over sideways, letting go of me and clutching his wounded parts instead.

I scrambled to my feet, grabbing the bar as I went. He rolled onto his back just in time to see me start to bring down the metal point. Didn’t matter how fast he could move, that metal would end up buried deep in his flesh or maybe even his skull. I wondered how long it would take for him to recover from having his brains splattered all over the damn room. Or maybe he’d stay a big mess for ever. He must have noticed it too because he brought his hands up, curling both of them around the bar and holding it still.

Leaning forward, I added my entire weight to the bar, but it only lowered another few inches. Why did everyone have to be stronger than me? Didn’t matter how hard I trained or how much I bulked up, there was always someone stronger. His hands must have been sliced open by the sharp edges because the bar started to lower again until the point was just above his forehead. “Wait.”

He wanted me to wait? You didn’t get to call a time-out in the middle of a life or death struggle, that’s not the way things worked. I held still though because whatever came out of his mouth next would have to be interesting. “Talk fast.”

When Marcus blinked a few times before he could focus on my face, I realized that he was fighting to stay awake. Even someone like him would pass out if they lost enough blood and head wounds were nasty. “You didn’t tell him anything at all, did you?”

Sweat ran into my eye and I was almost tempted to swipe at it. Of course to do that I’d have to let go of what I was holding. I leaned in closer, keeping my voice very low. “He’s never listened to me before; why in the hell would you think he’d do it now? Angel’s never even bothered to ask me any questions about them since he’s brought me back from the holding dimension.”

His eyes fluttered shut and the hands grasping the bar went limp. I had to catch myself to keep from ramming it through his skull. Part of me was screaming to finish him off right now and make a run for it, but I knew exactly how far I could go before I found myself in a world of hurt again. As long as I was inside of the building, the Partners couldn’t touch me. If I walked out the door... all bets were off.

I don’t know how long I sat there on the floor next to Marcus’ body before I finally let go of the bar. No guards ever came to see what was going on, none of Angel’s friends dropped by to remind me of what an asshole I was. I took the pillowcase and shredded it into strips before bandaging up his hands and pressing the largest piece against the wound on the side of his head. My body ached in more places than I could count, but I’d won the fight and I had done it as a regular person, without magic ink or swords.

When his eyes opened, I could read the shock and disbelief in them. “I... you... You helped me?” He stared at me for a few minutes, not saying another word. I didn’t let go of his head until he started to sit up. “Why would you do that after what I did?”

I shrugged. “I might be an asshole Marcus, but I’m not a heartless son of a bitch. You have any idea how many times I found myself lying in a pool of my own blood after Angel had taken his anger out on me? No one ever helped me afterward; I would have to limp or even crawl home and hope that none of the demons or vampires would finish me off along the way.” It had happened more times than I wanted to count.

“I didn’t tell him anything and I won’t.” I suddenly felt ten years older and absolutely exhausted. “I know the Partners hate me, that they’re afraid I’ll use the knowledge I have to hurt them, but if I was going to do that, I would have done it by now. They don’t want me dead permanently or I wouldn’t have ended up in the holding dimension. How many times did I die in there? Twenty? Thirty? Is that enough, Marcus? I can remember exactly what that bastard did to me, how it felt to have the rusty blade shove through my ribs...”

He looked down at his bandage hands for a moment before sighing. “They’ve never let anyone go before. And you stole Eve from them. They aren’t happy about that at all.”

“She made her own choice. Hell, it’s something you could do yourself if you ever wanted to.” I saw something that looked like fear flick over his face so quickly that maybe I’d imagined it. “I want to go home. I’ll take Eve with me and you won’t hear from either of us again. This fight of Angel’s isn’t mine, it never was. Or you can give killing me another try, Marcus. Maybe you’ll do it this time.”

When he slowly got to his feet, I stayed where I was. If I tried to stand, I had the feeling that I would fall on my face. Marcus circled around behind me and I felt his hands close on either side of my neck. It wouldn’t take much effort on his part to snap it. Except... he didn’t move. His grip tightened a couple of times, but he didn’t follow through. I closed my eyes and waited.

His lips brushed by my ear, making me shiver. “They want to make a deal, Lindsey.” That was the first time he’d used my name in this entire mess and my eyes popped open. “You two can go. They want it in blood that not only will you never come back, but you’ll stay away from the other branches. If you break the agreement, it’ll make the Wrath seem like nothing. Are we clear?”

I nodded once before swallowing a few times. “Where do I sign?”

Marcus let go of me and a wave of relief went through my body. The paper he pulled out from his jacket pocket was bloodstained and I wasn’t surprised to see the words suddenly appear on it. This was Wolfram and Hart we were talking about. I stabbed the pen he was holding into my palm and then scrawled my name on the dotted line. “Don’t screw this up, Lindsey.”

“I won’t.”


End file.
